Amazon WorkSpaces Moves to SSDs, Adds Cost Optimizer

All new virtual desktops powered by Amazon WorkSpaces will use solid state drives (SSDs) for better performance, and a new cost optimizer is being introduced to apply the best billing option depending on usage patterns.

Amazon WorkSpaces lets enterprises roll out cloud-based virtual desktops to employees who can use them to access documents and applications on a variety of hardware, such as Mac and Windows computers; iPad, Fire and Android tablets; and Chromebooks, along with Chrome and Firefox Web browsers.

All new instances generated by the fully managed desktop service will now use SSD, with no additional costs involved, and users of existing WorkSpaces can rebuild them to leverage SSD volumes.

"These volumes provide better performance than magnetic volumes so you'll get faster boot times and a better user experience when you run applications that are sensitive to disk latency," Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) said in a blog post Tuesday.

The post also introduced a new Amazon WorkSpaces Cost Optimizer to help drive down expenses for enterprises that use the service in different ways and select either the monthly billing option or the hourly rental plan, which was introduced last August.

Depending on detected usage patterns, the tool automatically applies the most cost-effective billing option. It does this by leveraging several other AWS services, including AWS Lambda for "serverless computing," such as executing code in response to events.

"You can use the solution as-is, customize it for your own environment, or take it apart and see how the combination of events, logging, serverless code and APIs can be used to add efficiency to your organization in interesting ways," AWS said.

About the Author

David Ramel is editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine and Application Development Trends Magazine.